Inflammatory bowel disease and metabolic reprogramming: From pathological mechanisms to targeted interventions

Abstract

This cover image is intended to demonstrate that lymphatic system serves not only as an important transport pathway in the body, but also as a highly promising medium for liquid biopsy. In the foreground, the lymphatic vessels contain a range of biomarkers, including cell-free DNA(cfDNA), cell-free RNA(cfRNA), extracellular vesicles(EVs), and other disease-related components. Their movement along the lymphatic network toward the lymph nodes visually illustrates the transport, enrichment, and exchange of these signals within the lymphatic system, while also suggesting that the lymphatic system holds abundant diagnostic information that remains far from fully explored. The enlarged glowing lymph node serves as the visual focal point, symbolizing a key site of immune activity and biological signal convergence. The surrounding analytical devices represent major biomarker detection technologies, including microfluidic chips and next-generation sequencing. Together, these biological and technological elements highlight the central theme of this review: integrating lymph-derived biomarkers with advanced analytical methods to support disease diagnosis, monitoring, and precision medicine.